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Is the Android Team Building a Siri Competitor Codenamed Majel?

According to our pals over at Android and Me, Google has spent much of the year putting in work on a newly revamped Voice Actions software, which they have codenamed Majel. You could consider this their answer to Apple’s Siri and will go far beyond what the current crop of Android Voice Actions can accomplish. The limits of specific commands (navigate to, listen to, etc.) will soon be gone and the times of speaking in natural language may be upon us.

Confused by the codename? The word Majel comes from the name of the woman who acted as the voice of the Federation Computer on Star Trek for years. And it just so happens that Matias Duarte (the ICS architect) mentioned Star Trek back in October around the time that Android 4.0 was unveiled. He was quoted as saying that their approach to voice actions “is more like Star Trek, right, starship Enterprise; every piece of computing surface, everything is voice-aware. It’s not that there’s a personality, it doesn’t have a name, it’s just Computer.” Fitting.

It’s anyone’s guess as to when we might see this new voice activated software, but there is a chance it could be out within the next couple of months. If Google wants to step into the voice actions game in a real way, it would be in their best interest to not wait around while Apple works to take Siri out of beta.

Is everyone ready to start talking to your phone like it’s your best friend?

Just called the local Verizon store…I asked when will they be selling the Gnex. He looked up in the computer and told me that tomorrow is the day! I will be there first thing!

Anonymous

copycat

Anonymous

my buddy’s mother makes $68 hourly on the computer. She has been unemployed for 7 months but last month her income was $7549 just working on the computer for a few hours. Here’s the site to read more…nsfw.in/X1b

I think it would be awesome if they make it so it can start up by voice..not the phone but the voice assistant such as “Majel ” then maybe an icon would appear or maybe from a longer command then you could go on with your request “majel make reservatons at clio at 8 for 2” etc….oh and if someone has said this sorry it’s late and didnt read the comments…Essentially it could be completely touchless..where as the iPhone4s you need to press the big stupid button.

I love this. I’ve been using Vlingo on my Galaxy S2 and I love it, but it’s no Siri. With the muscle and the brains of the Google team behind this, I’m sure it will blow Siri away. Hope it comes out sooner rather than later.

Having more options and uses like app intergration with voice actions is good. Having the ability to control all the funtions of your device hands free would be great. Improve it’s ability to handle more common language comands and various accents. Other than that i would need it to be dependable for important tasks but leave the human like intereaction out of it, thats just a gimmick better left for that fruit company.

Anonymous

Siri feels like a novelty to me. It could be good for driving, but most cars already have built in voice commands with the likes of Ford Sync ect ect.

Bionic

the voice system on my bionic is awesome when im driving

Anonymous

Not if your are driving anything more than a couple years old. My 2002 Chevy Truck and 1995 Saturn Econobox don’t have that! lol

Honestly, I hope this is just rubbish news – Android doesn’t need a siri competitor – Droids are doing just fine as they are. apple can’t keep up and is falling behind. I mean really, the 4s is that great – why? What improvements? siri? Really?

“It’s not that there’s a personality, it doesn’t have a name, it’s just Computer.” Fitting.” – Sounds awesome. I would love to eventually be able to naturally talk to my phone and ask it for things. Same thing with my computer. Can’t wait to see what they come up with.

Roshan John

The important thing here is that Google isn’t trying to come out with a Siri-like personal assistant with a personality bent on deeming your human to phone ‘relationship’ as magical and emotional.
Google is going about it totally differently, simply making voice commands better. Making every aspect of your phone, voice aware.
I say this is far less gimmicky and far more useful.

I have heard a lot of rumors about why the Galaxy Nexus was
delayed and they are all wrong. This is what actually happened…

(1 Month Ago)

Verizon: Hey Google. We found a couple problems with your
phone, the Nexus Prime.

Google: Actually we are calling it the Galaxy Nexus now but
okay what’s the problem.

Verizon: Oh crap someone tell Best Buy to change that… But
anyways we were playing with the device and we seemed to notice that there are
no Verizon apps on the phone.

Google: Well this is because it is our Nexus device. It
should be free of bloat ware.

Verizon: Oh well we did you a favor and added My Verizon and
VZ Backup on it for you. No need to thank us. Well we also noticed that it
doesn’t say Verizon anywhere on the device.

Google: Well that’s because it is a Nexus and has the Google
branding on it.

Verizon: Well we did you a favor and added our logo and our
4g logo on it for you. People will see 4g and Verizon and instantly buy. Also I
think you gave us a defective device because the screen was curved a little at
the bottom.

Google: That is the way it is supposed to be. It is supposed
to be different.

Verizon: So what your saying is there is no way to fix that?

Google: It doesn’t need to be fixed. That’s how it is
supposed to BE!

Verizon: Well with such a close release date we can’t fix it
anyways so our customers will just have to deal with it. We also say that you
guys are going to be allowing our customers to use Google Wallet.

Google: Yes Google Wallet will be a great marketing point
over the iPhone.

Verizon: Well I am sorry to inform you we want you to take
it off.

Google: WHY???

Verizon: Because we already have a service that won’t come
out for another year that does the same thing. We get more money for everyone
that uses it so we don’t want any competition.

Google: THAT’S IT. YOU GUYS HAVE CROSSED THE LINE IF YOU DON’T
LET US PUT GOOGLE WALET ON OUR PHONE WE WON’T LET YOU RELEASE IT.

Verizon: Fine we have plenty of time to wait…

QtDL

Yup. That’s probably pretty accurate on how the conversation went. Enter FCC at the end of that conversation….

Actually, with the ADK and proper access provided to car functions through a manufacturer-exposed API, Majel could theoretically do a lot more than that.

But, at the same time, the manufacturer could also just develop an app directly for iOS, and assuming Apple exposes an API to Siri at some point (which is likely), it could do the same thing. In fact, they’d probably do it for Apple first, despite Android marketshare, because you know Apple is so much cooler :-/

Come to think of it, I’m kinda surprised no one like BMW etc. has done full car-as-accessory integration like that yet (sans Siri)…

Steve Martin

well there actually already is an android app that allows you to use your phone to lock, unlock, and even start a car which obviously needs onstar since theres not really any other way to communicate with a car. and I wouldn’t say Iphone is cooler then android but that could also be because I’m older then 10 and actually know more about my phone other then how to turn it on and push the call button. Iphone may have the ability to use the phone to lock and unlock cars using your voice first or they may not. but either way you look at it Google will take the idea and improve it with technology at least 5 years ahead of Iphone. Like they do with everything. Including the voice recognition which has just been released on Iphone has been on android for about 2 years.

Anonymous

More fandroid ignorance…..

The iPhone has had voice recognition since the 3GS was released in 2009…..to try and label Siri as simple “voice recognition” is the height of ignorance….something that I’ve grown accustomed to with fandroids…

And btw, what happened to Almighty Andy’s declaration that “people shouldn’t be talking to their phones”??? I guess the strategy is to bash it for as long as it takes to copy it. So “Google” of him….

Steve Martin

So you mean the third or fourth Iphone was the first to receive voice recognition? What I’m saying is that the first Android ever released had voice recognition. But after a year it went from being popular to not a big deal. Now android users only use voice recognition to call people without having to go through their contacts or for the gps or music. Theres really no reason to use voice recognition as a toy which Siri basically is. But because of how popular Siri is to the Isheep then I guess Google feels like if they release a similar app then it will become popular to android users. But most Android users are over the age of 10 and might use Majel for a few months but I’m sure after a year Majel will just be another app that is used like once every few months. except for the basic commands.

Anonymous

“So you mean the third or fourth Iphone was the first to receive voice recognition? What I’m saying is that the first Android ever released had voice recognition.”

No that’s NOT what you were saying….THIS is what you said:

“Including the voice recognition which has JUST BEEN realeased on iPhone has been on android for about 2 years.”

In typical ignorant fandroid fashion, you were attempting to suggest that prior to Siri, the iPhone had NO voice recognition, when in fact it has been on the iPhone for 2 1/2 years….

I know this is a fandroid site so most of your ignorant statements will go largely unchallenged, but try and do just a little research next time…..

If Google could pull off fluctuation in the tone of voice to detect punctuation, like Microsoft is starting to develop, that would be really cool and lightyears ahead of Siri.

Interstellarmind

what a touching tribute to the tv show that brought us cell phones, and tablet pcs

jason6g

i kinda like saying “text lisa ill be home shortly need anything while im out” to actually say something like “send a text to my good friend with dark hair, lisa…” might be kinda wierd and too human for a droid lol

Interstellarmind

yeah, google has me sold on it from the name alone. I WILL LOVE IT if it remains named “majel”

Am I the only one who see’s through Apple’s marketing scheme? Siri doesn’t actually do very much more than Android’s voice commands, it just reads stuff back to you in addition. Unless they make major upgrades it will fizzle out in 6 months.

Once again why does Google do this? Why say one thing like Andy stated in AllThingsD a few months ago about talking to a phone and then make an app that you can directly talk to your phone? Do you remember in the 90s when DragonSpeakEasy came out? I remember people speaking to their computers at work, dictating what the computer should do and what it should type and that got old quick. The last thing I need to hear is people talking to computers as if they were real people. I’m glad that crap died quick back then, but it seems we still can’t figure out that the last thing we need at work is some distracting idiot speaking to a computer while everyone else does their work quietly. I hope not because Siri is such an irritanting gimmick by a perpetrator of gimmicks and will only get worst until people are screaming at other people for talking to a phone instead of talking into one.

Anonymous

I don’t think this is really designed to be a Siri replacement, article notwithstanding. I think Google is just recognizing that Voice Actions can be a little prohibitive to all but power users who memorize the exact commands, and they want to make Voice Actions more accessible by allowing natural language instead. Basically, instead of just “Send message, Joe, hey i’m on my way” you could say “Send message to Joe that says hey i’m on my way” and it would work properly.

In other words, I don’t think they are expanding the scope of Actions, at least not by much; they are just improving it to further ensure it works as intended.

mike

Just so you know, Dragon and programs like it are still widely used in the medical field. Most large practices and hospitals use these programs. Transcriptionists are becoming far and few between and being replaced by “Correctionists”, which basically is listening to the recording of the dictation and ensuring that the program understood the doctor correctly.

Eric Kwan

I don’t know a single iPhone 4S owner who uses Siri for anything other than novelty or “look what I can do with my iPhone” purposes. Do we really need “an answer” to this useless feature?

The computer can’t do that. You gotta radio the transporter room to do that. {{-_-}}

Anonymous

Actually it can, there are several episodes where they give a command to the computer to do site to site transport both on planets and on the ship. For example when Ferengi pirates had taken over the ship, it was one of the way Picard trapped them.

My phone is my best friend and I already talk to it. It will be great when it can talk back to me. I won’t feel so lonely anymore.

Anonymous

Sadly, Majel Barrett-Roddenbery is not in a position to contribute anything to this project directly but it would be amazing if her voice could be replicated for this. I think it’s iconic.

EC8CH

i like how you used the word “replicated”

Anonymous

There’s a tricorder app in the market!

Pfigurella

Yes, and it is the absolute bleeding edge of Trek-Geekdom. Or almost any geekdom. I’ve had it for more than a year.

Corey Morreale

since the arrow to the knee..this will come in handy.

Bewara2009

I might ask some personal questions to Majel 😀

Mark

Just hope it’s not as cheezy as Siri. That would get old fast unless you’re 14. I have, however, enjoyed the fact that my OG Droid has always had voice actions that actually work for searches etc, much to the chagrin of my friends easily swayed by the *phone marketing.

Nintendo

The more you compare Google Voice Actions to Siri the dumber you look. They are not the same thing. It’s like saying i don’t need Google Maps with turn by turn voice directions i have a map i printed from MapQuest. Give Apple credit where it is due and hope Google comes up with something better.

Anonymous

Finally a fandroid with a brain….

Mark

A typical 14 year old response. READ before you jump to conclusions. No one said it’s the same thing. I DID say that for SEARCH, the good ol’ OG Droid performs better than the spiffy new Siri with its cheezy preprogrammed responses. That has been reported in many honest reviews of Siri, and has been my personal observation as well. When my excited iFanboy friends wanted to show off their new phones, simple search commands like “find pizza near me,” or “Mangia Bene Pizza in Greatneck, NY” failed, or took several attempts, whereas my Droid instantly came up with a list, with the option to click places, map, directions etc. Head to head, I always came up with the location faster. Siri (like all Apple “inventions”) is an over-hyped piece of software that doesn’t “always work,” and is merely an evolution of existing technology. For the things it does that are the same as voice actions, it doesn’t perform any better than what we already have. In fact, when Siri can’t find something, it defaults to……. Google search!!! Yes, there are many extra things that Siri does, but that has nothing to do with my previous post. Both systems are evolving (not only from this article, but also here: http://searchengineland.com/google-buys-clever-sense-an-answer-to-siri-104593). The point that you missed, is that somehow I’ve been able to do voice searches that work for over 2 years without the magical help of Siri.

I use “navigate to” all the time. I just don’t need all the added flashy aspects.

Emilio Figueroa

I like the call, “State business name here, then location” feature. It’s so useful, especially when i can do it with once click and not have to hold down that home button for 5 seconds. Get’s things done more quickly.

Anonymous

Majel Barrett was the creator. Gene Roddenberry’s wife. In addition to voicing the computer she also played Nurse Chapel in the original Trek, and Lwaxana Troi in ST:TNG. Yes, I’m a star trek nerd and I love Majel Barrett. Great code name for the software.

Brilliant name for any project. and i hope (pray actually) that they licence her voice for it 🙂

Jim Davis

She’s dead, so I don’t think that will happen.

Anonymous

She might be dead but they have hundreds of hours of sound clips and voice overs done for 5 different star trek shows. I think that’s more then enough data to create a workable interface. I too am waaaaay to much much of a Star Trek Nerd.

I like your optimism and I think it would be BEYOND awesome to hear her voice but usually when people work off of the clips, the intonation sounds a bit wonky. Maybe they can find someone with a similar voice. Maybe they can rename it to Pickard and get Patrick Stewart to voice it. I would totally say “make it so” more often if that happened. 😉

They had tablets in 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as a voice controlled computer; that movie came out in 1968. The original Star Trek was in 1966, but I don’t know when which tech came out in that series. We’ll call it a draw.

Luckily, for Star Trek Online they recorded like 4,000+ different variations of saying letters and phonetics in the English language, so that they could make her say anything they want in the game. So it’s still a possibility.

Speaktoit is not the same as Siri. I have both. And trust me, it doesnt even come close lol

Tim242

I’ve used both…they are virtually identical…same voice and all. They both are silly junk.

Anonymous

Does SpeakToIt have geolocation capabilities?

Tim242

Yes.

Dominick DeVito

downloaded and tried it – works well, thanks

Anonymous

Absolutely

Anonymous

This. I tried a few of these apps for Android, and they worked fine; I just never used them after the initial 5 minutes. It would be nice to have this integrated into the OS for those that use them, but it probably won’t affect me beyond maybe a half hour of playing with it.

Anonymous

I had a chance to test out Siri for a while this weekend. A friend of mine got an iPhone to hold her over until I show her the Galaxy Nexus in a couple days.

While the iPhone did not live up to the hype, Siri worked pretty darn good.

I tested it by giving it many different scenarios. There are things it does very well and others where it misses by far. But things like “remind me about my 3:00 dentist appointment next thursday” works great. It seemed to have to think about it for about a minute, but eventually got it right by telling me it set up an appointment and asking me if it was correct.

It does very well with setting appointments and reminders and stuff like that. I could speak in every day language and it could sift out the important data and offer a solution.

Now it did seem to take a while to do these things and you could probably do it quicker on your own. But it was cool.

I guess there is a place for these types of features. I imagine it would work even better if on a 4g network. It seemed pretty hobbled on the 3g network.

I agree…Siri was pretty sweet. I’m hoping that something similar gets created soon for Android. I’m getting old and need reminders!

I was with a friend at work, and she told Siri to remind her to stop at PetSmart when she left work. We pulled out of the parking lot and Siri says “Don’t forget to go to PetSmart”. I’ve been trying to get Speaktoit to do the same…and all I get is “Do you want me to save your note to memory or to evernote?”…not really the reminder that I am looking for!

Anonymous

That is awesome! I would love to have that ability!

EC8CH

If the voice is the same as the Star Trek TNG computer, this is soooooo winning!

TROLOLOL

Look at that… a Galaxy Nexus…

Anonymous

trollololololol

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